财富年度商业人物之母的育儿经

    大家或许已经从2011年一期《纽约》杂志（New York Magazine）的封面上认出了梅耶•穆斯克。那期杂志封面刊登了这位63岁模特的前卫裸体照片，同时仿照《名利场》杂志（Vanity Fair ）封面上的黛米•摩尔进行了合成，让她看上去像是一位怀胎九个月的孕妇。（这期《纽约》杂志的封面文章“以她的年纪，能否生育？”讲述了中年女性生育的故事。）也有人可能通过她的工作认识了她。她是一位关注健康和长寿的营养师。

    此外，她的成名还有另外一个原因：她三个孩子当中的一位——埃隆•穆斯克——刚刚被评为《财富》杂志2013年年度商业人物（Fortune's 2013 Business Person of the Year）。

    贝宝公司（PayPal）联合创始人埃隆•穆斯克是一位具有冒险精神的创新者，他还创办了另外三家初创公司，即：电动汽车制造商特斯拉汽车公司（Tesla Motors）、太空探索技术公司（SpaceEx）和提供屋顶式太阳能系统的太阳能城（SolarCity）。所以说，在当今时代一些伟大的发明诞生过程中，梅耶发挥了关键的作用，而且她本人也是一位创业模范。

    梅耶•穆斯克的职业生涯可谓一波三折。她出生在加拿大，却在南非比勒陀利亚长大。她喜欢科技和阅读，每周去两次图书馆。她母亲的朋友有一家模特经纪公司，于是梅耶有机会参加了选美。从比勒陀利亚大学（University of Pretoria）获得营养学学位之后，22岁的梅耶嫁给了工程师埃罗尔•穆斯克，然后三年内接连生下了三个孩子。后来，她创办了自己的咨询业务，同时利用弹性工作时间来照料自己的3个孩子。

    梅耶的三个孩子埃隆、金巴尔和托斯卡相处得非常融洽，但他们都有自己的性格怪癖。梅耶说埃隆的内向一度让她以为他可能存在听力障碍。埃隆在学校经常被人欺负；梅耶鼓励儿子说，她小时候也经常被人捉弄，她的双胞胎姐姐会充当她的挡箭牌，抵挡同学的冷嘲热讽。

    梅耶说，她很快就发现，原来埃隆之所以安静只是因为他在思考。（她的另一个儿子金巴尔和女儿托斯卡更外向。）埃隆十岁的时候，梅耶与埃罗尔离婚，梅耶表示孩子是她生活的全部动力。“只要他们有体育活动——实际上，他们都不擅长体育——或者任何活动，我都一定会拿出时间去支持他们。”与此同时，梅耶的营养师公司也有所起色。

    埃隆在17岁时搬到了加拿大。虽然她在南非的事业蒸蒸日上，营养学界推举她在行业活动上发言，但梅耶和其他家人还是跟着埃隆一起来到了加拿大。

    在加拿大，梅耶不得不从零开始。她和托斯卡住在朋友家，直到她们在多伦多找到一处租金管制的住处，埃隆才搬过来一起住。为了每个月1,000美元的收入，梅耶一边在多伦多大学（University of Toronto）做研究，一边上课，来证明她在南非取得的资质。此外，她还为埃隆买了99美元的服装（西装、领带和袜子），还牵线帮他结识了一位营养师的丈夫，此君当时供职于微软（Microsoft）。后来，埃隆进微软工作了一段时间。梅耶继续从事模特演艺工作，后来在模特经纪公司的大楼内找到了一间办公室。她对办公室进行了重新装修，再次创办了自己的公司。

    You may recognize Maye Musk from her 2011 New York Magazine cover, a provocative photograph of the 63-year-old model, nude and photoshopped to make her appear nine months pregnant a la Demi Moore's Vanity Fair cover. (The cover line, "Is She Just Too Old For This?" teased a story about middle-aged women giving birth.) Some may know Musk from her work as a dietitian focused on wellness and longevity.

    And then there's her other claim to fame: One of her three children is Elon Musk, Fortune's 2013 Business Person of the Year.

    Elon, a co-founder of PayPal, is the audacious innovator behind three other major startups: electric car maker Tesla Motors (TSLA), commercial space travel outfit SpaceEx, and SolarCity (SCTY), which provides rooftop solar systems. So Maye played a critical role in spawning (literally) some of the great inventions of our time -- and was an entrepreneurial role model.

    Maye Musk's career path is one of twists and turns. She was born in Canada but raised in Pretoria, South Africa. She loved the sciences and reading, visiting the library twice a week. But her mother's friend had a modeling agency, and suddenly Maye found herself at beauty pageants. After gaining her dietitian degree from University of Pretoria, she married engineer Errol Musk at 22 and then had three children in three years. She launched a counseling practice, allowing for a flexible schedule with the kids.

    Maye's brood of Elon, Kimbal, and Tosca got along well, but each had his or her own personality quirks. Maye says Elon's introversion led her to believe for some time that he might be deaf. He was bullied in school; Maye assured her son that she, too, got picked on as a child and that her twin sister often shielded her from classmates' barbs.

    Maye says she soon understood that Elon's quietness simply meant he was thinking. (Son Kimbal and daughter Tosca were much more outgoing). Maye and Errol divorced before Elon was 10. As teens, her sons spent their weeks with their dad and their weekends with mom, and Maye says she lived for her kids. "If they had a sporting event -- actually, they weren't that good at sports -- so any kind of event, I would make sure I had time to go and support them." All the while, Maye managed to build out her dietitian business.

    When he was 17, Elon moved to Canada. Though she had a thriving practice in South Africa, and the dietitian community sought her out as a speaker at industry events, Maye and the rest of the family followed Elon.

    In Canada, Maye had to start from scratch. She and Tosca lived with a friend until they found a rent-controlled place in Toronto, where Elon joined them. For $1,000 a month, Maye did research at University of Toronto while taking courses to verify her South African credentials. She also bought Elon a $99 outfit (suit, tie, and socks included) and connected him with a dietitian's husband who worked at Microsoft (MSFT), where Elon ended up working for a bit. Maye continued modeling, booking jobs to snag office space in her modeling agency's building. Maye renovated it and rebuilt her practice.